Varos didn't make it more than twenty steps before Ester told him to stop.
He turned, his attention still on the path Eir had opened.
"What?"
"Show me behind your ear."
Varos went still for a moment.
Damon stopped as well.
"You have a mark."
"All field officers do."
Ester approached him. "Then Serik can kill you too."
"We don't know that."
Damon pointed toward the corpse they had left behind.
"We have a pretty convincing demonstration."
Varos ran his fingers behind his right ear. The mark was smaller than the dead agent's, but it was there: three red lines forming an incomplete circle.
"It has never reacted outside communications."
"Until five minutes ago, you also thought it was only for authentication," Ester replied. "Sit down."
Varos looked at her.
"No."
"You just watched a man die because of it."
"I'm not going to let you cut into a structure that might be connected to my nervous system when we don't know how it works."
Ester nodded.
